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Monday, February 28, 2011

Why are we, as humans, afraid of change? Safety and stability go hand in hand, it seems. It is so difficult for us to embrace change, and for some reason it is especially hard to embrace that change when it is good for us!

Look for instance at a good friend, or even an acquaintance for that matter, who is in a bad relationship. You know they are unhappy, they look unhappy, they act it. Goddess knows, some part of them knows it as well. But when they are finally out of the relationship, are they happy? No. They don't see the end of their relationship as the beginning of the re-growth of their self esteem and independence.

We all have those things, something different for each on of us. We have to be pushed and pushed and pushed before we do it, only to find out we love it! I personally will admit to be a huge stick in the mud. I like things to stay the same. Really, I hardly even read new books. I have about 70 books that I love, and I read them over and over. Same with TV shows. When Sean and I first started dating, he tried to get me to watch Smallville. I declined immediately, of course. It was about a superhero! I don't watch those kinds of shows. Or at least, not until we were super bored one day about a year later and he tried yet again, for the millionth time, to get me to watch it. "Fine," I replied, sighing just a little. I figured I would watch the first episode, tell him I didn't like it, and that would be the end of that. Little did I know that I would be instantly hooked, even with how crappy the first season is. We watched 6 episodes that day...ah, the days before babies.

So, what does all this have to do with anything now? Nothing really, other than giving you examples of how I react to change. So imagine my reaction when it finally became clear to me that I'm being called by a different set of Gods. When I first found Wicca, I followed Celtic Gods. Shortly after, though, I changed. For so many years now, I've followed the Egyptian Gods. Lately, however, I've been called by the Norse Gods. This is, of course, somewhat uncomfortable for me at the moment. Being that I too am human, I naturally have some amount of hesitation when it comes to change. Being that Wicca is nothing if not a path of evolution and change, I will get used to this new idea eventually.

How long does it take you to get used to such radical change? How often have you been called by a God or Goddess you didn't expect?

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Well folks, here it is. The 100th post! In celebration of that, we have a guest post today of by the talented Katrina Kent. So here it is! Enjoy

Do Pagans Fear The Word ‘Religion’?

I’ve found myself recently thinking about the word religion. Some members of the Pagan community spend a large portion of their time trying to prove to the rest of the world that we are a religion like any other. Yet it seems the rest of us shy away from the word “religion” entirely.

Are we a religion like any other? I’ve been on the Pagan Path for over ten years now and I discovered recently that I hesitate when it comes to the word religion. Why is that? Do we automatically associate “religion” with “Christian”? Do we fear being associated with the negatives of religious history? So many of us will say “I’m not religious, I’m more spiritual.” What exactly does that mean? I’m not saying you can’t be spiritual, I’m saying don’t label yourself “spiritual” simply because you are afraid of what it would mean to label yourself religious.

No matter what the reason is that so many of us shy away from the term “religious”, I think it is important that we are aware of it and examine it within our own minds and our community. I believe this is an important step in our own growth as individuals and in the growth of the various religions pagans attune to. By shying away from the word religion we merely perpetuate our negative emotions toward the members of other religious followings.

One of the things that first drew me to Paganism was the opportunity for acceptance. We are a religion like no other, but a religion all the same. I believe we need to embrace this word religion. Embrace the strength that comes from being a religion.

Do you shy away from using the word religion? Or is it just me?

Katrina Kent is an aspiring writer from New England who has been walking the Pagan path for over ten years. She works as a direct care aid to children on the Autism spectrum and is working toward her B.A. in English. Find her on her blog and on Twitter!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

In relation to yesterdays post, I want to share some ideas on things you can do Magickally to help a child with teething. We don't want to have to keep giving Brianna more Advil, and almost every parent out there is worried about over medicating their children.

Both coral and agate can be a great help. You can let the child wear a necklace of coral or agate or both, but at this age they are as likely to eat it as wear it. It's much easier to place it under their bed or put it in a little bag for them to carry around.

Another thing that can help is a weak chamomile tea. Not only will it help relax the child, but has a very slight numbing effect that will help the pain as well.

You can also buy natural teething tablets from health food stores. If you are handy in the kitchen, you can always make your own, too! I have to admit though, this is one area where I don't have luck. I can do pretty much anything in the kitchen, from baking bread to making candy. The two things I can't do at all? Make teething biscuits (I've tried!!) and cook fish. Yes, fish. I can't do it. I don't know why. There is something about me that just will not let me cook fish, it stays undercooked no matter what. But that could be another post entirely. Something that you could do instead of teething biscuits is buy or make biscotti! This one is on my list, I think I'll have more luck with it.

Something that you can do with food is include a lot of basil and parsley. Both of these help take swelling down. There is going to be a lot of Italian in our future! Also, grapes have wonderful lunar healing properties, which is definitely what you want here. Half a cup of grapes once a day works wonders for teeth. Garlic works well too, but it can be hard for little stomachs to handle that.

Monday, February 21, 2011

I'm happy to say that I got a full nights sleep last night, as did everyone else in the house! Yes, baby included. I wish I could say that it was due to the amethyst sleep spell I posted, but I can't. I was going to go buy an amethyst for it tonight.

No, this is due to the magic of children's Advil. Now that I'm thinking on it, can one consecrate Advil? Regardless, I digress. We discovered, or rather, Brianna told me, that she was teething.

That was the night before last. It's not just any teething, either. It's her eyeteeth. So at that I gave her the Advil. She still didn't go to sleep until 6am that day or I guess yesterday? So last night we gave her Advil right before bed, so it would kick in an hour or so later. And we all got to sleep through the night!

If you aren't a parent, you won't understand that. Heck, I even have trouble understanding it. How can we be so excited about getting to sleep through the night? It's one of those things where, as a parent, you have to celebrate.

So our plan now is to give her Advil before bed again tonight, and then no Advil the next night. We don't want to over medicate her, but it's so important that she get a full nights sleep too. This is the first morning in almost a week that she doesn't have huge bags under her eyes.

Hopefully over the next couple of days I'll be able to get into town and pick up some teething tablets at the health food store for her. Until then, nice cool grapes always make her feel better! Not only are they a healing fruit, she just loves her grapes!

Somehow, through a mixture of Magick and Magic, we'll hopefully go back to sleeping through the night on a regular basis.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Ah, sleep. Something that every parent wants and children think they can do without. We aren't talking about just any sleep spell, though. We want one for babies and toddlers. Why?

I'll tell you why.

I love being with my daughter. She's fun. I like spending time with her when she is up for 4 and half hours in the middle of the night, but I like sleep more at that point. Babies need their sleep too.

The young, sleeping Brianna

So, what do you need for a sleep spell for children and babies? Well, of course the choking hazard for small children will always come into account.

You'll need:

A small purple fabric bag, preferably velvet but any fabric will do
An amethyst
A lock of the child's hair
Tape

Wrap the hair around the amethyst and say:

Close your eyes and drift to sleep;
While across the sky the moon does sweep.

Place the hair wrapped amethyst in the bag, and tape the bag to the underside of the bed or crib, about where their head usually lay. This eliminates the choking hazard of placing it under a pillow.

Now you just have to enjoy the sleep! You can easily do this spell for yourself as well, just use a lock of your own hair and you don't have to use the bag at all. Chances are you won't try to swallow your amethyst. This should be renewed about once a month.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

All you wonderful people who follow me, you follow me for a reason. Hopefully, that reason is to read what I write. Otherwise, what's the point, right? So I have a question for you: Are there any topics that you all would like to see me write on? There have been some people asking me questions lately, so is there anything anyone wants answered?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

That's right! Today you can see my Beltane craft post up at the Balanced Witch! You can also see a cute picture of Rainbow Bright, since Brianna wouldn't sit still to model my wonderful creation.

I'm not sure how many of you know that I'm going through my first degree training. I'm not one of those who thinks that you have to be traditionally trained, I just felt it was the next step for me. I've been doing this for a decade, it *might* be time for me to do something new. Where I'm going with this, is that I'll be doing shorter posts over the next couple of days/weeks because I got every book on my reading list in the mail yesterday, and am looking at a foot high stack of books right now. Okay, maybe not a foot. Still, it's a lot of pages to read through.

I'm also going to be having someone do a guest post soon! So keep posted for that!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Sorry it's been so long, everyone! My internet is finally up and running with no bugs, so no worries any longer. I'm sure I'm stating the obvious, but yesterday was Valentine's Day. We aren't anti-valentines like some people, but neither am I bugging Sean to get me flowers and chocolate. We had a nice steak lunch at home while Brianna napped, but we do that several times a year anyway. I think Valentine's day is a nice idea, but among it's many flaws are the facts that it promotes the once a year celebration of love, and it excludes other family members.

We should be showing love and affection to all our family members everyday. Do you tell your spouse you love them everyday? Do you tell your children you love them everyday?

I was inspired today by a post at The Broken Road. If you haven't read this blog, you should. But only if you have a box of Kleenex nearby. Tiffany, writer of the blog, started it originally to share her families struggles with her son's Autism diagnosis. Unfortunately it ended up a place where she is sharing her 9 month old daughter's death, as well. Her store is heartbreaking, but her courage in the face of all of this is truly amazing. It does bring to light the fact that life is unpredictable. What's going to happen tomorrow? We don't know. If do tarot readings, scrying, runes or another clairvoyant endeavor, you might have an idea of where the future is headed. However you still don't know.

Here is where I'm going with this: What do you want your last words spoken to your spouse to be? To your children?

Telling your kids to put on jackets, telling your husband to pick up more milk on the way home, or Goddess forbid something angry?

Expressions of love should be an everyday, and constant thing, and even the small things shouldn't be discounted. Every touch, every breath, can be an expression of your love. No one should live in a loveless home, and no one should have to live in a home where they are loved and don't know it.

So tell your spouse you love them. Not because it was Valentine's day yesterday, but because you love them! Tell your children how happy you are to have them, because you know you wouldn't trade them for anything! Tell all your friends and family. There is no such thing as saying you love someone too much.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sean and Brianna, taken shortly after coming home from the hospital. Look at how he's holding her; with his arms wrapped so tight around her. You can see expressions of love too, it doesn't always have to be told.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Ha. I love Futurama. In anycase, the bad news is not so much bad as it is that my internet sucks. We are having a tech come out to the house. Again. So, I may be missing in action for a few days, as we attempt for the 4th time to get our new internet up.

How am I writing this, you ask? Brianna and I are visiting my parents while Sean is at work.

So, sorry for the lack of posting all. There will be real posts again soon! If I don't talk to you all before then, happy Valentines!

The wonderful Peter and Tara at Dragon Moon will treat you right. I order from them way too much for my own good. Peter and Tara have decided to offer a wonderful bonus to all my lovely blog followers! From now until February 13, you can use the coupon code inspired And get 5$ off your purchase! Yay! Everyone gets something! Aren't they awesome?

Now everyone can shop! Seeing how successful this giveaway was, keep an eye out for more in the future!

When I announce the winner of the giveaway, probably about 1pm MST, I will also be telling everyone something EXCITING! Seriously, it will be awesome for everyone. You'll just have to come back and check!

In the meantime, check out all the awesome products at Dragon Moon that you guys want... By the by, their only about an hour and a half away from me! Isn't that crazy?

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

This post is inspired by two things, one of which is my good friend Rainy. When asked what I should blog about, she said time travel theorems. The other part was inspired by the TV show The Real, on History network. For those of you who don't know it, The Real show the real version of a movie in each episode. The Real Titanic, The Real Jack The Ripper, The Real Robin Hood, etc. The episode that I watched most recently was The Real Jurassic Park.

I was always loved Jeff Goldblum's line from Jurassic Park, "Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." It's very true at the rates that we are pushing scientific discovery, we will have to start thinking about this sometime soon. For instance, did you know that there has been dinosaur soft tissue discovered? Underneath the mineral of the fossil. Science doesn't have the technology required to extract the DNA from the pieces discovered yet, but it could be within our lifetimes that seeing dinosaur DNA will be viable. There are experiments being done chicken embryos, adding proteins here and there to enhance the ancestral dinosaur-ian features. Can you imagine a chicken with a tail, teeth, or claws at the end of it's wings?

What we need to look at now, with science so close to so many answers, is whether we truly want to look for know those answers. How do we decide what we should or shouldn't do? In days past, when the west was considered a Christian world, the answer would have been obvious. Now? Whose morals do we follow? Are Pagan morals better than Christian morals? I'm sure a lot of Pagans would agree. Our morals differ from Christian morals in some key ways. Does that make ours better? Or theirs better? No. Just different. What about Muslim morals? Or Hindu? Who should be able to make that decision, "No, this is wrong, we shouldn't do this." Over the past 100 years there have been incredible arguments about scientific morals. Science has taken a huge jump in the last century. Do you remember in the 1960's when there was a head transplant done on monkeys? What about cloning, and genetic manipulation? Or abortion, especially now that there have been studies done that show that fetuses have memory?

There are very fine lines here, and chances are our children will be the ones to draw them. We have such a direct impact on the future, and I think we all take that for granted. What are we teaching our kids? What should we teach our kids? How do we give them the right morals to make the correct decisions? How far is too far, or not far enough?

Monday, February 7, 2011

Who has plans for Valentines? We don't really follow the blatant commercial symbolism of the day, but we enjoy having an extra day that is special to us as a couple. Sean is trying to convince me to let him buy me a present. I usually try to convince him not to, Valentines is one of those holidays I like to do homemade things for. However, I also know that Sean is not the least bit crafty. I love him dearly, but being crafty for Sean would probably consist of gluing macaroni to paper or something like that. He has great ideas, he just can't carry them out. So I'll probably let him buy me something.

I, however, enjoy making things. There are some great ideas out there. I love this "Pair Box", easily made with a little modpodge and a cardboard box from a craft store.

I love the idea of gifts in jars. Cookie mix or hot chocolate, you can even find recipes for flavored vinegars if you are looking for a gift for a foodie.

You can make your own candles, too! All you need is a sheet of beeswax and some candle wick, which you can get at pretty much any craft store. Heat the end of the beeswax sheet with a hair dryer and lay the wick onto it, keeping an inch out the bottom and a minimum two inches out the top. Then you just roll it up! Seal the seam with the hair dryer, and instant candle! You have to make sure to roll it tightly, if you leave too much air in it, it won't burn as well.

With Sean, something edible is always a hit. This year, I want to make these edible flowers. Not entirely the same way, but pretty close. We've discovered that several types of candy (including jellybeans) have no cholesterol, I'll buy a vase, insert Twizzler flowers, and fill with jellybeans! I'm not going to use foam or fruit roll up, I'm thinking of using fruit by the foot and making roses!! That would be pretty neat. And edible.

I'm probably going to let Sean cook steak on valentines, because he hardly ever gets streak anymore. I will make some things to go with it though. I want to make garlic bread, and maybe some Gnocchi. Not sure yet about desert, I always have so many ideas it is hard to settle on one!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Well, it's Friday! The end of the week for most. What does everyone have planned for the weekend? Is anyone having their Imbolc celebrations over the weekend? Ours were great, you can't go wrong with homemade butter!

What does everyone think about the new layout? I've been fiddling with it for a while, and finally decided I like it.

Let me know what you think!

Also, only 5 more days before the end of my giveaway! Be sure to enter!

I'm going to spend the day writing. I only need 40 thousand more words or so.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Surprisingly, this was not brought on by all the buzz about bullying you hear about lately. It has nothing to do with whether we are Pagan or otherwise, even. It was brought on by a simple statement on a parenting forum I participate in. Here is part of a question a woman on the forum asked about her son's music classes:

"The “Tiger Mom” in me is making him continue to go despite his protests because I believe it is important for his development. Am I being too tough? Am I not pushing enough? Maybe instead of a sweet little music class, he should be practicing the violin an hour a day?"

I was so incredibly shocked. Her son is 3 years old! I can't imagine anyone "pushing" their child to do something that they dislike that much. Not only is it killing the individuality that we should all be trying to instill in our children, but it is simply wrong! I truly believe that children have rights. We've all said that, at "that" stage. "I can decide for myself!" "I have rights too!". Well, children do have rights.

They have the right to a parent who listens to them, who accepts what they say, and works with them instead of against them.

They have the right to make their own decisions, even one so small as not attending a certain optional class any longer.

They have the right to make their own mistakes, because no matter how we try to tell them something they will have to try it for themselves.

We have the duty to protect our children, to nurture them, to raise them to be a good person. We can't give in to everything, but that doesn't mean we can't listen and compromise. That doesn't mean that we have the right to take away their rights. It doesn't mean we get to force them to do the things that we always wished we could have done. If you want to play the violin so damn bad, then learn! Don't force it on your toddler!

So many parents try to create that super baby, the whiz kid, the one that will graduate with a masters at 15. Why can't we just let our children be children. Teach them to be social by having play-dates at the park, not forcing them to some class with strange children they don't know. Give them skills they will truly need in the world - not how to play the violin, but the ability to love, the ability to trust, and the ability to form true and lasting relationships with their peers.

If anyone tried to take away our freedoms, force us to do things, take away our ability to decide for ourselves, we would raise hell! People wonder why their teenagers talk back, why their kids "act out". So would we, if we were treated the same way that we treat them.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Details. Details can make or break a lot of things. In art, you need to have just the right amount of detail so that you can tell what the image is supposed to be, but not so many that it overwhelms or makes it seem fake. It's like with robotics. You can see a robot that looks marginally human, has a face, has eyes, has a nose and mouth. All the right details to make you think, "Oh, that looks almost human!". Then there are the ones that try to go too far into the realm of believable humanity, and when you look at it you just feel wrong, because yeah, it looks human but you can't quite figure out what's missing.

I've only just begun to throw my slavery to detail, and it will be a long while yet. I always think I could add just one more thing, but I'm not able to stop myself from adding so many details that one forgets to look at the big picture. As I was thinking about this, I realized a lot of us do this in our craft as well.

How many of us add just one more thing to a ritual? One more herb in this spell, one extra candle in a different color, maybe just switch this altar cloth for that one. We need to curtail the extra details in our spiritual lives as well. We all know that true magick comes from within. As we gain years of wisdom in our craft, we discover more and more things like this. When we first start practicing, most of us are slaves to what we are told: We have to use a wand for this, a chalice for this, a special dagger for this, you NEED to have a, b, and c before you are REALLY a witch.

Over the years you realize that in a bind, you can use your finger as a wand or dagger, a normal drinking glass as a chalice if need be. We all need to remember that the power that we as spiritual beings have flows through us, not through our tools or which herb or incense we choose for our rituals. It's great to have these things, because yes, they can help. They help us get in the correct mindset, they help our magickal workings in their own way. We still need to stop worrying that our rituals are perfect or will be pleasing enough if we don't have the exact shade of candle we want or the perfect chalice. We can also take this lesson into other areas in our lives, in trying to be the perfect friend, parent, child or spouse. When we just let ourselves flow through as we should, I think we'll all find our lives go a bit more smoothly.